The Unsaid In The Distance
by charlie7694
Summary: Erik and Charles are brothers. They share the same father and the same loss. They lost their mothers and their father. Because of the age difference they didn't spend much time together and it is logical that they have a lot of disagreements. So as Charles's mother dies, the 12 year old has to move in to his 25 year old brother's flat in New York. Now they have to stick together.
1. Introducing

_So as first I want to say that I am German or Russian. Actually a Russian who lives in Germany, but you get it. That means that my English isn't my mother language._

_So I am sorry for every grammar mistakes ( I think I did something wrong with the tenses)._

_If there is someone who wants to be beta reader then tell me please :)_

_And I wanted to say that I will only continue if there are people who also read the story! Actually I wanted to write where Erik is Charles father but I don't have many ideas at the moment.., but yeah :)_

_So if you like it then yeah... tell me please what I can do better or if you have some ideas what can happen. I already have a vision but if you want some scenes then tell me :)_

_Okay then, have fun!_

**CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING**

The first time Erik saw Charles was when the younger brother was only one week old. Erik's mother insisted that he should visit his father and his newborn brother. She said that family was very important and it didn't matter if the brothers didn't share the same mother. Family is still family and she claimed that he would love his brother from the first sight.

She was wrong. Erik would have a distanced relationship with his brother until their parents' death.

The only reason Erik give in was because he didn't want to disappoint his parents and because he missed his father. Erik was already 13 years old and it wasn't in his nature wanting to spend time with his parents, but he still loved them very much. The reason he missed his father was because he lived in America and Erik live with his mother in Germany. They made phone calls, wrote to each other. He even spent his vacations with his father. Nevertheless it wasn't enough. But this summer he didn't have the chance to spend time with his father because of his work.

So when the phone call came with the message that his little half-brother was born, he took the chance to go see his father, not to see Charles. God, his mother would have loved to see the newborn baby. She loved children. Brian Xavier, Erik and Charles' father invited her but she had to work and explained to him that she would just interfere with the family moment. Brian didn't have the same opinion. He argued that she was a close friend, but she decided to stay home.

His parents have never married. Brian Xavier and Edie Lehnsherr had always been friends. The only reason why Erik existed was because the two of them had to much alcohol one evening and their relationships had ended.

The next morning they woke up ashamed and didn't talk for week. Then Edie found out that she was pregnant. From that moment their relationship healed because they would have a child and it wouldn't be good to the child if they didn't speak to each other.

At that time they studied in Heidelberg, Germany. Then, after university, Brian worked for a time in Germany. However when Erik turned 7 years old his father moved to England for a time and worked in Oxford University. Erik stayed with his mother in Germany, and they moved to his mother's hometown, Düsseldorf. Despite of the distance between them, Brian still visited his son very often, and spend his free time with Erik.

Then, when Erik turned ten, his father met Sharon, and they married a year later. It was love at first sight. She was a very lovely woman but Erik didn't like her. In contrast to his mother, who became Sharon's best friend.

Everyone knew that Sharon wasn't the best with children but she didn't hate them. She just didn't know how to interact with them. She was more of a party person.

It was September when Charles was born and Erik had just started a new school year. The only reason he was allowed to skip some weeks from school was because he was very good at school.

So he took the next available plane to America, where his father now lived with his new family at his family manor, and flew to New York where Brian would pick up his oldest son.

When Brian collected him from the airport Erik could have sworn that he'd never seen his father happier than in that moment.

He stood between the other people and couldn't wait to see his son a again and of course he couldn't wait for Erik to see his little brother Charles for the first time.

"Hello Erik!" Brian greeted Erik happily and waved with his hand as he saw his son among the other passengers. Erik smiled automatically.

His father was always a happy, smiling person and you would never see him angry or sad. It was like he didn't know what these emotions were. That was one of the reasons why people loved him and why he had a such good business.

Erik walked across the other people to his father. As he reached him he was taken in his father's arms into a big hug. Erik hugged him back.

"I missed you dad." Erik whispered into his father's chest. Oh yes, he missed him very much. He missed their vacations, their talks, their chess games and his father's jokes, which aren't that funny, but you have to laugh about them because it was Brian who told you them.

"I missed you too, buddy." Brian replied and held his son for a moment longer, after letting him go, he takes a step back, lays his hands on Erik's shoulders and looks at him with a proud look on his face, "You are so grown up. Can it be that you grew a little more since the last time we met?" He mocks him then, "Oh, dad...", Erik whines a little bit. He's always been tall for his age. He is almost as tall as his father and he is only thirteen! And his father knew that Erik has a problem with his height.

Brian laughs and pats Erik's head, who tries to move away from his father's hand now. Sometimes his father can be very annoying.

Brian laughs again, "Come on Erik, don't tell me that girls don't like you! Girls like tall and attractive men! I bet they are standing in a line just to talk to you. Trust me! I know what I am talking about!" He smirks at Erik with one of his charming smiles. Sometimes it can be very difficult with his father, but he is right. The girls seem to be really very attracted to him despite of his height.

Nevertheless, Erik looks away, but just to hide his now turning red cheeks. Brian sees it anyway and smirks. He has a talent for seeing things others hide of him. But he doesn't comment on it.

"Come on Erik. It's time for you to meet your little brother!" And with that Erik's mood turns automatically down, and it doesn't get better as Brian leads him to the car or as the father makes a conversation with Erik about school, his friend, his mother, and the weather…

Erik doesn't know why but he doesn't like his brother even though he hasn't even met him yet. He just knows that he could think about thousands things that he would like to do than see his brother.

When they arrive at the manor it's already evening. Sharon greets him tiredly and goes straight to bed. Not something usual for her, but she had a baby just a week ago so it's expected.

Brian claims that Charles is a very quiet baby, even quieter than Erik was.

After that, Brian and Erik visit the nursery to see the already sleeping baby. Brian smiles proudly and looks expectedly at Erik, so Erik smiles back at his father to not disappoint him.

Then Brian claps his shoulders and they go down to the kitchen to eat and talk before going to bed after a long day.

At night Erik lays in his bed and thinks about how fast life goes on, and how his father has a new baby around now. It would be a lie to say that isn't disappointed that his parents never married. Deep inside his heart he always wished that one day they would wake up and be in love with each other. It's a silly dream. He knows it, but still…

The next morning is very quiet despite of having a newborn baby in the house. But this house is very big and you never know if it really is as quiet as it seems.

When Erik wakes up he goes straight to the kitchen and sees breakfast is ready. His father sits and reads a newspaper and Sharon sits with Charles in a crib next to her at the breakfast table.

As Brian lifts his head he greets him, always happy, "Good morning Erik! How did you sleep, big man? Look, we made breakfast!"

Now Erik is suspicious. Neither Sharon or his father can cook. "Really? You made breakfast?" Erik asks just to make sure that he heard him right.

"Well…", starts Brian, "Actually, I made breakfast! I learned how to cook in the last months. I went to a cooking-course!", he announces proud and then continues," Sharon didn't have the nerves for these kind of things." He adds quickly as his wife gives him a look, "She is just talented at other great areas."

But Erik is still somehow confused and stands at the kitchen entrance. Brian seems to see his discomfort and adds also: "You know, now that your brother is born, I thought it would be nice if we cook for him. That's what parents do. And you love when you mother cooks, don't you?"

"Yeah…, but Charles is just a baby. I don't think that he would remember you cooking when he's one week old." Erik answers awkwardly and decides to sit down now at the table.

He looks at the table which full with pancakes, eggs, bacons, bread, marmalade and a lot of things that could feed an entire family of ten people.

His father is sometimes really too enthusiastically.

"I know, I know…" says his father, "But babies are feeling the comfort around them you know!"

That… didn't really convinced Erik but his father was always extraordinary.

"But, darling," starts Sharon now, "Don't you think its too much food for a breakfast?"

"Nonsense! Do you know how much Erik can eat? I bet little Charles here will eat as much as his big brother!" Brian argues back and points proudly at his son in the crib.

Later, Brian will know that Charles is not a great eater like his brother, something that will disappoint him.

Still, Sharon is not convinced.

"It is still too much." She says and Erik adds, " She is right dad. Do you think you can do a such big breakfast every morning? I mean you still have to work."

But now Brian ignores his wife and his oldest son and takes his newborn baby into his arms.

In the next years he doesn't make so much food for breakfast anymore, but he still does breakfast.

When they are done with breakfast, Brian puts Charles into his arms suddenly, and disappears with Sharon out of the kitchen. She had to take a shower and he has to go to the toilet.

Why his father placed Charles in his arms instead of the crib is a mystery to him. Erik doesn't know anything about babies, especially newborn babies and such little babies.

For the first time, Erik takes a really good look at his brother. His eyes are blue just like his. But don't all babies have blue eyes? Somehow Erik has the feeling that they would stay like that. He has brown hair. And he has so much hair! Erik swallows.

The baby, no, Charles, looks straight into the eyes. For a moment they look at each other. Somehow Erik likes the little squirt. He smiles.

Then Charles takes a breath and screams. Erik's smile drops.

At that moment Brian comes back into the kitchen.

"Oh look. What's wrong? Come on little man." Says Brian as he takes Charles on his arms. Brian then disappears with Charles into the nursery.

Erik is disappointed. Charles never cries on his brother's arms again as a baby .

The weeks go on and Erik flies back to Germany.

Brian and Sharon move to England for 5 years. On Charles sixth birthday they move back to America.

The years went on. They aren't very pleasant.

His relationship with Charles is not the best even though Charles admires Erik. But Erik doesn't visit his family in America that often anymore.

When Erik is seventeen years old his mother is murdered. He attends a university in Heidelberg and then later a university in New York. He's getting quieter with age. His father is his only support.

Two years later his father dies in an accident in his lab.

Sharon becomes an alcoholic and even more distant than ever.

Six years later Sharon dies of liver failure. She drank too much.

And with the death of Sharon, Erik is the only blood relative of Charles. Erik is 25 years old now and Charles 12 years old. The age difference couldn't be bigger. Some days after the funeral Charles moves with Erik to his flat in New York. With that, the real problems just began.


	2. Moving In

_Hello as first I want to say thank for everyone who favorited and is following my story _

_And also thank you for you reviews if you a member or a guest!_

_First I want to answer to the guest reviews(because I don't know how to respond to a guest on ) :_

_HelloILikeIt:__ Thank you for your great review! Well what should I say? Yes Erik will be a good brother but he also will be a little harsh but also soft. He didn't spend very much time with Charles so he has first to find his brotherly feelings. Thankyou very much! Well I am Russian but my grand-grandmother was german so .. but yes I was for Germany! And I am living here now for twelve years so I have somehow the germanspirit Yeah I noticed the tense problem, but I tried to do better in the second chapter. I hope you like it and thank you for reading my story!(And Yes! __Everyone is celebrating here happily in Germany!)_

_Just A Reviewer__: Thank you too for your review! Yeah I noticed the tense problem (leider habe ich dieses Problem auch in Deutsch ) I will try to continue posting new chapters And thank you too for reading my story! __I am glad you have interest!_

_Seven:__ Thank you too for your review and for your interest in my story! __I hope you will continue reading my story ;)_

_So l am trying to not mix up the tenses and I hope you accept my apology for the grammar mistakes (and several other mistakes)! _

_Son now have fun!_

**CHAPTER 2: MOVING IN**

As they drove to Erik's flat, Charles had many thoughts in his head. Erik sat silently in the driver's seat while Charles was in the backseat. Some of Charles' belongings were on his left. On his lap he held his school-bag which was full with school-books, notebooks and several other things for school.

He had pressed the bag to his chest since they left the manor in Westchester and hadn't let it go.

Charles had stood silently before the manor with his bag in his arms and looked at it the whole time while Erik loaded Charles last boxes into the car. It wasn't much because some days before, they managed to send the most of Charles things to the flat. So it wasn't very much left to get into the car.

The most of Charles' belongings were books. There were a lot of books. Erik was not pleased, but nevertheless he helped pack them and transport them to the flat. He just muttered the whole time that he would have to buy more bookshelves for Charles' new room.

It was like Erik hadn't enough problems now with his younger brother living with him, and now this! Bookshelves! Bookshelves aren't really a problem, but Erik was stressed…. So he had a right to get a little bit angry. Unfortunately Charles was very sensitive and got quiet as he heard Erik's mutter and after a moment told Erik that they could leave some of his books behind, but Erik just said that it was okay.

Charles didn't understand him. Didn't he just complain about having so many books? Why did he say that it is okay now? Charles was confused but said nothing. He didn't want to disturb his older brother more than necessary.

And with the sudden silence Erik got a little bit confused, because before that Charles had talked the whole time, with his quiet excited voice, about his favorite books. And suddenly not even a peep cam from the twelve year old. But he didn't think more than necessary about the sudden silence. Charles has always been strange.

As Erik got done with loading he turned to the shorter boy. Oh God, he was really short for his age. The boy looked more like a nine year old than a twelve year old. Puberty definitely wouldn't be pleasant for him. _If_ he ever went into the puberty.

Charles just stood there with his bag and looked at the big house in front of him. What is he doing there? Erik asked himself and drew his eyebrows together. The squirt is really strange…

Erik let out a sigh and called, "Charles! Come on, we're leaving now!"

But Charles didn't respond. "Charles!" Erik tried again. But as Charles continued to ignore him, he let out a frustrated sigh, and went straight to his brother and grabbed him by the shoulder before turning him around to face Erik. Just then Charles looked up in surprise to his so much taller brother and looked questioningly at him.

"Hmm…?" Came out of him.

Erik turned his left eyebrow up. "You're finished now? I said that we are leaving now. Let's go."

Charles just nodded and Erik let out another frustrated sigh before he turned around, went back to the car, and opened the backseat door.

When Charles didn't move he asked him sharper than intended," What are you waiting for? Get in the car. We don't have time to stay here the whole day!" Just then, Charles moved quickly to the car and climbed inside, before Erik closed the door and sat in the driver's seat.

He put his seatbelt on and looked into the rearview-mirror. "Don't forget the seatbelt." He reminded his younger brother.

Erik have been very stressed these last few days and more very annoyed because of the paperwork. He had to sign Charles up in a high-school. Yes, in a high school. Charles seems to be a very bright head. Erik knew this already, but he didn't know he was that smart! So it was a surprise when he talked with his old school and learned that his little brother was going to go in 9th Grade of a High School.

Well… you can say Erik was more than surprised to hear that and sat quietly for a moment. He had to take it in.

And then he had to make the guest room suitable for the twelve year old. And there were some more papers to sign for social services and, and, and…

Good that this is over now. Now he just had to raise a child! Oh boy…

As Charles strapped his seatbelt in, Erik started the engine and they drove away from the manor. Meanwhile, Charles took a last look at the house. He knew it wouldn't be the last time he would see this house, but still, somehow it felt like saying goodbye.

He looked back until he couldn't see the house anymore. Then he pressed his bag to his chest and looked out the window during the drive . Not one word came out of him the whole drive.

Erik turned the radio on after a while as they drove silently to New York.

Hours later they were finally there. As they reached the city Charles, looked with curious eyes out of the window. So that's the place he will live in now. It's not his first time in New York. The few times he ever came here he always spend time with his father and his brother. But he hadn't been older than six! So he couldn't remember very much of his time here.

Erik studied back then and lived in the apartment his father bought him. Erik wasn't very happy about it. He loved to be independent. He wanted to prove that he could live without his father's money. Actually, he always wanted to prove something.

But Brian insisted, and told him to take it as his University Entrance Gift.

Erik had already been studying in Germany and his father then got wide eyes and clapped his hand on his face and said, "I knew I forgot something." Erik just let out a sigh and accepted the "gift" knowing that his father wouldn't accept a No.

They also went to restaurants a lot of the time and to Central Park. But after his father's death, Erik and Charles stopped seeing each other. The only time they met was on Charles' birthday and on Christmas. Erik wasn't a very social person and he had a lot of work to do. Also he didn't know what to do with his short and much younger brother…

So Charles didn't remember very much of New York. And now here they were. New York. The boy was exited, but also afraid. He was such a big city! And he couldn't remember seeing so much people! What could he actually do in a city like that?! Back in Westchester he didn't went out a lot. When his father lived they went out a lot but after he died the excursions stopped abruptly.

At school, he didn't have any friends. He was always different and smarter than the others, and he had other interests that his classmates, that didn't help to find friends.

And then he skipped two years.

It didn't help either… It made the whole situation even worse. His classmates started to tease him.

Maybe now that he would live in a big city the school would be also bigger and his classmates wouldn't even notice him? Charles heard once that in big cities you don't know even your neighbors. So it had to be the same in school…

His new life just terrified him. He dropped his head.

As Erik parked the car he turned back to look at Charles. He sighed. Here they were! Now let the fun begin!

After a moment he got out of the car and said, "We're here now. Come on." Then he started to take out the boxes and Charles quickly got out of the car.

He looked around and noticed the clean houses around him. Some of them were old fashioned, and some of them were modern, and others were just ordinary houses. They were build out of grey and black bricks. But some of them had also this orange brown color. They were also built tall.

All of the houses looked very neat. It was a nice looking neighborhood.

When Charles turned around he noticed the house he would now live in. It was one of these ordinary and modern houses with grey black bricks and modern windows. He remembered this house a little.

It was the year Erik decided to study in New York. He lived with them in Westchester during his vacation. He looked for a place to stay in New York.

While he searched for a flat his father secretly bought him, a new big apartment with two floors!

Then one day they made trip to New York and the first stop they made was by this apartment…

Erik wasn't that happy and felt a little uncomfortably…, but he knew that his father had done it for him and he couldn't say no anymore. The apartment had already been bought.

Meanwhile, Erik started to take a few boxes out of the car and went to the house entrance.

"Come on Charles! Do you want to stay here all the day or do you want to go in?"

He looked at him expectantly.

Charles smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm coming."

And then he ran to Erik who was already in the house and called the elevator.

"My apartment is in the third floor. So don't get lost."

Charles wrinkled his forehead and looked up at him. "Why do you think I would get lost?"

"Well, you look like a person who gets easliy lost." There was amusement in his voice. Charles was not pleased and looked down on his bag.

"I don't get easily lost." He murmured.

"If you say so." Erik chuckled. At that moment the elevator came and they stepped in.

Sometimes Erik could be very mean. Charles should be used to it. Because every time they met, Erik mocked him. Sometimes he just needed to call him squirt. How Charles hated it! It wasn't his fault that he was that short!

Erik was tall. Why wasn't he? They shared the same father! Shouldn't he be at least a little more taller? Charles was irritated.

They stood silently in the elevator and then as the door opened they stepped out and went to Erik's door. Erik placed the boxes on the floor and took his keys to open the door. As he opened the door he took the boxes back on his arms while Charles stepped in.

He went across the room into the bright living room, which also had a kitchen area on the left side of the room. Next to the right of the kitchen area were the stairs, which led up to the second floor of the apartment. On the left side was also a hallway which led probably to another room.

In front of Charles was a bright window and on the right side where the room ended was the same modern metallic window. The room was full with several things. On the couch you could see several pillows, on the other couch too. Across from one couch stood a television. There was also a carpet and a coffee table.

As Erik entered the room with the boxes and went straight up to the second floor Charles supposed his room would be there. He followed Erik upstairs.

"This is your room now, squirt." Erik said as he entered Charles' new room.

"I'm not a squirt." The short one whispered quietly, but Erik heard it anyway and chuckled again.

"Sure, squirt." Charles hated when he did it. Now the word started to sound weirder than it had before.

In front of Charles was a bright window like the one downstairs with dark blue curtains. On the left side stood a bed. There was also a night table, and on the right stood a desk with a chair in the corner. On the left side, opposite of the window, was a closet. Next to the closet were bookshelves in the wall. There were still several unpacked boxes in the room.

How Erik wanted to fit additional bookshelves into the room was a mystery to Charles. Sure the room wasn't small, but it wasn't big enough, either, that you could put more furniture in.

Erik must of thought the same as he put the boxes into a corner of the room and looked around. Oh yeah… there was no way he could put more bookshelves in.

He went back to the door and put his hand on Charles head. "I'm going back to the car to get the others boxes. Don't break anything." Charles ignored the last part. "Shouldn't I help you?"

Erik smirked. "You? Oh man, no better not. You'll break yourself. While I am getting your stuff, you can unpack your things here. Better start with your books. I will help you later with your clothes."

Again Charles choose to ignore a part of Erik's speech. "You know that I am twelve and not eight, right? I can unpack my clothes by myself."

"Ahh… I don't think so." Erik countered and left then the room.

Charles looked for a moment behind him. What was wrong with him sometimes? Actually, what was wrong with all people? Why did they treat him like a little child? It was always the same…

He sighed. Then he dropped his bag next to the desk. He didn't care what Erik wanted him to do. He would do what he wanted, not what Erik wanted.

Then he started to unpack his clothes and put them into the closet.

When Erik came back with the rest of the boxes he sighed angrily, "Charles! What did I say?"

"I know what you said." Charles answered and continued to unpack the clothes and put them in the closet.

Erik placed the boxes on the floor and putted his hands firmly on his hips. "And why are you doing what I said you shouldn't do?" He asked dangerously calmly.

"Because I can do it by myself. I'm not a baby, you know. That's the reason why I do what I do." He mocked.

Erik stayed quiet. Then he went to Charles and looked into the closer. Everything was properly on his place. Okay… maybe he can do it by himself.

Erik really didn't know how to treat Charles.

In his eyes Charles was a dependent person. He just knew it. He is twelve! Okay, maybe the squirt can put his clothes properly into the closet but that didn't mean that he was independent in other things. Erik was just overreacting. It's just the first day and he is stressed from the days before. That must be the reason for the whole clothes _dispute_.

"Okay." As Erik gave in, he saw Charles small smile. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing." Charles added quickly and his smile dropped.

Finally Erik decided to help then to unpack the books.

Oh god… the squirt had too many books. That would explain why he skipped two school years.

As Charles was done with the closet he decided to put his desk in order. Meanwhile, Erik managed get all books into the shelves. He was very satisfied with himself.

It was really a wonder that in the end, they didn't have to install more shelves.

Then he turned around and looked what else he could do in the room. Charles was just properly ordering his desk. That was weird, thought Erik. Weren't children supposed to be messy?

Then he discovered a teddy bear in one of the boxes. He smirked.

"Didn't you said that you weren't a baby anymore Charles?" Erik teased him as he took the stuffed animal from the box.

"What?" Charles turned around. "Hey!" He called as he saw his toy.

Quickly he went to his older brother and sharply took the stuffed animal away from him. Why did Erik had to be a such an idiot sometimes?

"What? Why so angry?" Erik was clearly amused about his brother's reaction. Suddenly Charles turned away from Erik. "That's Albert." He whispered as he place the light-brown bear on the bed.

"Albert?" Now Erik couldn't hold himself anymore and started to laugh. At this reaction Charles turned back angrily to Erik. "Yes, Albert!" He tried to sound seriously, but that caused Erik to laugh more. At the end Charles pushed Erik out of the room and shut the door.

He could still hear Erik's laughter behind the door and threw himself angrily on the bed. What was wrong with the name Albert? Erik was really an idiot!

Behind the door Erik was still laughing. The kid was really hilarious! How did he even came up with that name? Erik really didn't know. Then he went to his room, still laughing a bit, and decided to take a shower.

He woke up late today. The last days he slept in the manor. Something he didn't do in the last years. Then he had to wake Charles up and make breakfast. Erik knew now, Charles wasn't a morning person. It took Erik one hour to wake up the annoying squirt ! But when Charles still didn't get up he took him in his arms and threw him into the cold shower.

Charles wasn't pleased. But Erik didn't have the time for his brother tantrum and just left the angry kid in the bathroom. After all they had work to do today!

They had to beat the traffic.

At the end he didn't have the time to take a shower. What a day…

When Erik finished showering it was already six in the evening. He didn't even noticed how fast time went on... Hmm… , he thought as he stepped out of the bathroom, what was the squirt doing?

He opened the door and stepped into the room. Then he took a look on the sulking child on the bed. "What, you are still sulking?" Erik chuckled.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Oh yes, the kid was still sulking. He didn't even look up.

"Nope." Erik answered without regret.

After a moment of silence Erik began: "So… you are hungry?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Really? You barely ate this morning. And we didn't have anything for lunch." Erik looked skeptically.

"That was because you threw me into the shower."

"That was necessary."

"It's your opinion."

"And that's only _your_ opinion." Erik countered, "Now come on. I am going to order some pizza. I want you to be downstairs when the food is here. Stop this childish behavior."

Charles looked up at him. "I am a child."

"Didn't you said otherwise yesterday?"

"I said that I am not a baby. A child and a baby are two different things."

"Actually, I don't see a difference. So either you're coming down in the next 30 minutes or I am going to throw you over my shoulder and carry you myself downstairs. Are we clear?"

Charles looked away from his demanding brother.

As he didn't respond Erik just snorted and went out of the room and called from the stairs: "You know I will do that! So don't challenge me, squirt!"

Charles just turned around and pressed his face on his bed. Tears were running down his face. Not because of Erik's treatment, but because he wanted to go back home.

It wasn't his wish to move in with Erik. He wanted Erik to move in to the manor! But he knew that wouldn't happen. Erik had a job in New York. He already agreed to take care of him.

Charles didn't want to disturb him.

He missed his home. He missed his mother, even when she didn't take care of him, but just because he missed her presence. Very often he would sneak to her room in the middle of the night to be near his mother. The whole day she would be in some room drinking wine. When he would enter the room she would scare him away. So the only chance he had to be in her presence was when she was asleep. Sometimes she would sleep in the middle of the day so Charles didn't have to go through the dark house.

But now he didn't even have that chance. That wasn't fair…

But life was never fair to Charles.

_I hope you like it. Left a review if you had fun ;)_


	3. Sundays and other Problems

_And a big thank you to elianatcb1 for correcting the chapters :D_

**CHAPTER 3: SUNDAYS AND OTHER PROBLEMS**

The next morning Charles slept until 11 o'clock. It's Sunday and he was more than happy not be woken up by Erik like the day before.

Yesterday, after they were finished with Charles' room Erik called the pizza service. Actually Charles didn't want to eat but he knew that Erik wasn't kidding when he said that he would carry him down himself if Charles wouldn't come down to the living room, and he didn't want to put Erik through more stress.

Also he didn't want to be the child Erik saw in him. Well, he was a child, but not the child Erik thought that he was. This guy thought that he wasn't able to order his clothes by himself!

Before Charles went to down he managed quickly to dry his eyes with his shirtsleeve. He was homesick and missed his mother.

But he didn't want Erik to know.

Fortunately, Erik didn't notice anything. So they sat down and ate the ordered pizza. Charles didn't eat that much. Erik just commented, "Don't eat much?"

Afterwards as they cleaned up Erik explained him where the bathroom, Erik's room and the study were. Not that the apartment was that big, and Charles grew up in a bigger place than this, but he didn't want to be rude, so he just nodded at Erik's explanation.

He was also told that he would start school on Monday. School began only one week ago so he hadn't missed much. However, Charles was scared that he would probably stand out. He would have to introduce himself! He just couldn't speak in front of other people! That was really not what he wanted. How could Charles forget that school started already? He would've asked Erik if he could've started school a week ago. But now it was too late.

Erik didn't notice the shock on his brother's face, just continued to explain that he would take Charles to school on his first day and pick him up after school. But then Charles would have to go to school by himself.

Erik also told Charles that because of his job he would sometimes work late. Some days he would be home after eight or work late at home.

When Charles asked Erik what he actually did at work, Erik tried to explain him but he didn't quite understood what he was talking about. The only thing he knew was that Erik worked in a university and had part time jobs for companies, for which he sometimes consulted or made research in the area of physics and engineering.

Charles told him that it must be exhausting, but Erik just explained that he liked it and that working in two different areas kept him from getting bored and that was why he didn't want to quit. He also mentioned that the jobs where he did research or consulted clients were more like hobbies.

Charles had to admit that he was impressed.

When Erik said it was time for bed, Charles had to agree with him. It had been a long day after all.

When Charles woke up he had to pinch his eyes together. The sun shined through the curtain right on his face. He covered his head with his blanket but it didn't help very much.

Why didn't he close the curtains yesterday? He had to remeber that this evening.

After his eyes got used to the sunshine he decided to get up.

As he stood up he asked himself where he was. He was in a foreign room. It wasn't his room.

Then he remembered that he moved out yesterday. He left the only home he knew behind to live with his older brother.

Erik.

Charles blinked.

He turned around and looked out of the window and rubbed his eyes with his arm. First he saw just his reflection on the window. He looked really tired and his brown hair was a mess, just like his white blue-baseball pajama.

As he concentrated on the outside of the window he saw people already walking through the streets and some driving cars.

It was mid-August and the weather was still very warm. For a Sunday morning the street was very busy. But after all this was New York. New York was always busy.

Then he turned again and decided to go down. But first he looked into Erik's room. His bed was already made. So he must be awake.

Charles went downstairs and that room was also empty. A clock in the kitchen area showed that it was already 11 a.m.! Did he really sleep that long? He yawned. Obviously he didn't sleep long enough.

And where the hell was Erik?! Maybe he was at work? He didn't mention anything about working on Sundays. And he wouldn't leave him all alone here without saying anything, would he?

Charles furrowed his eyebrows. He looked around in hope that Erik would pop out of empty air. That was ridiculous! He began to panick.

What if Erik decided that he didn't want him anymore? What if he realized he couldn't stand him and decided to leave him here as a message that he should go away. It isn't like they were friends. They only saw each other two times in the year.

Suddenly the image of his mother was in his head. She left him too.

Charles knew that it was ridiculous. Erik wasn't like his mother. Erik took him by his own choice. His mother hadn't got a choice. Erik didn't have to take him in. He could leave him in custody of a friend or someone else. Charles knew that. Erik wasn't like other people. He cared.

He calmed down. Then he took one more breath and suddenly he remembered the study.

He went into the direction of the room near the kitchen area and saw the door open.

When Charles entered the study he discovered Erik behind a desk. Obviously he was concentrating on some papers.

"What are you doing?" Charles asked.

Erik looked up. "Oh, good morning to you too, sleeping beauty. Did you sleep well?"

"Ähh… yes. You too?"

The answer was a chuckle. Then suddenly Erik stood and went to him, laid his hands on his shoulders and lead him back into the kitchen.

"Come on, squirt. Seeing you in your pajamas is making me feel hungry."

Charles had never heard before that someone could get hungry if he saw another person in his morning clothes.

They entered the kitchen area, Charles immediately sat down on one of the chairs by the dining table when Erik gestured him to sit down.

"What were you doing in the study? Did you work?" Charles asked him again.

"Hmm… what do you want to eat? Bagels? The pizza from yesterday? Or just toast? Maybe fruit or cereal?" Erik looked confused. "Did you know that I have that much food here? Orange juice?"

He looked now at Charles and held orange juice in one hand.

Charles shook his head.

"Tea." He piped out.

Erik raised his eyebrow. "Really? Tea?"

Now he chuckled. Charles had the feeling that Erik loved to make fun of him.

And as if that wasn't enough there came more, "You are real British man, aren't you? But somehow it fits you. You have also an British-accent, so…"

Charles blushed. He always blushed when anyone mentioned his accent or asked him if he was from England. He just lived there for some years and the accent just stayed with him after he moved back to America.

He watched Erik making tea and coffee now.

"So what do you want to eat?" Erik asked again.

"Toast with marmalade and butter!"

Again, Erik raised an eyebrow, but his face stayed expressionless.

"So…, what did you do back in the study?" Charles asked him, hoping we wouldn't be ignored again.

Erik took the cups with tea and coffee and put them down on the dining table.

"You really want to know, huh?" He said as he brought the rest of the food to the table and sat down in front of Charles.

Charles hesitated and tried to hold his voice steadily, "Well… I wouldn't ask, would I?"

If Erik noticed the uncertainty in his voice he didn't show.

"I was working." He answered short and sweet.

Charles wasn't satisfied, "But on what exactly…?"

Erik took a sip of his coffee. "Making calculations for a project."

He started to make himself a bagel, and Charles understood that the conversation was over.

Erik gestured to Charles' toast on the table and Charles started making himself his toast with marmalade and butter. They ate in silence.

After the late breakfast Erik returned to his study to continue working. Charles was left alone in the empty living-room.

It was quiet.

Not that Charles wasn't familiar with that. Back in Westchester the whole house was always quiet, if you didn't count the servants and his alcoholic mother.

After some minutes at the table Charles went to take a shower. But that just lasted 15 minutes.

He tried to watch television but after some disgusting animal documentary he turned off the television . He already had enough life issues, he didn't want to increase them.

No, thank you.

So he sat for a while on the couch and tried to focus on a ridiculous metal plane on the coffee table. His eyes turned then on a globus near the study. It was also made out of metal.

Charles burrowed his eyebrows.

Now that he thought about it, there were a lot things in Erik's apartment that were made out of metal. His whole kitchen was made out of different metal types. Just the counter was made out of some dark stone.

The lights and the few picture frames were also made out of metal.

There were a lot more of metallic things in the apartment. Erik seems to be obsessed with metal.

Well… that was strange.

But it was good to know that he wasn't the only strange person on the family. Somehow it made Charles smile.

Then he looked to the watch. It was now 1 p.m. Not much time had passed…

He was so bored! How did he spend his time back in the mansion?

Well, he read. But he didn't want to read now. He wanted to go and look around. After all he was living now in a new city!

He decided to ask Erik. It was Sunday. Certainly he would like to take a break and it was also time for lunch. Not that Charles was really hungry but surely Erik was!

Standing up and entering Erik's study he could hear him talking angrily to someone.

"…what? I said no. Why, you ask? Maybe because I don't want to… Listen Emma can't you just go with someone else?"

Whatever they were talking about, it made Erik angry. He went through the room like a tiger who wanted tear something or someone apart. Charles was sure that in this case, this someone, was this woman Emma who Erik was talking on the phone.

Unfortunately for Charles he was the only one in the room so he had to hold his head for this conversation.

Erik noticed his insecure and innocent little brother at the door. However his anger was already that big he didn't care that his brother was, after all, innocent in this whole situation.

"…wait a moment Emma. What?!" Erik snapped at Charles and held down his phone.

"I… I was…" Charles stuttered, "I was thinking if…"

"Come on, spit it out!" He was interrupted.

"Can we go out?" Came the quiet question.

Erik burrowed his eyebrows, "What?" He was annoyed, "No, Charles. I don't have time right now. If you want to go out then go out. Just stay near the house." Erik commanded.

Erik took his phone back to his ear, and the conversation was over. He continued to fight with that woman Emma.

The boy hurried out of the room not wanting to be shouted at again. Putting on his shoes he left the apartment and entered the elevator.

In there he met a muscled man with a cigar in his mouth. The man looked at him curiously, but drew his glance away.

But Charles couldn't draw his eyes away from the big man. Somehow he looked like a bear or maybe cat if you paid attention to his hair. He had to giggle by this thought.

"What's so funny kid?" The man looked down at him again. His glance was sharp.

Charles stopped giggling. "Nothing. I'm sorry, sir." He whispered quietly.

To his luck, the elevator opened and Charles ran out of the house on the street. Well, that was quite an encounter. Why did he always have to be so rude? His mother always told him off for his childish behavior. Yesterday Erik also told him that he was being childish…

Now his mood turned down even more …

He looked around and asked himself what was he doing there? He really didn't know what to do. There was no one he knew… It was a shame that Erik couldn't go out with him. Actually, he was the only person Charles knew in this big city. That almost made him cry.

No! He wouldn't cry! What was he? A baby?

He sat down on the side walk and laid his head on his hands. This was really bad. He was alone.

Hs breath began to shake.

All of sudden he felt a hand on his shoulder, that made him jump.

"Hey, easy there kiddo. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." The man from the elevator held his hands in front of him in an apologetic gesture.

Charles calmed his breathing down.

"You're okay?" The man asked. For a moment Charles didn't respond but then he nodded carefully and turned back around to look on the ground.

"You sure?" The man tried again.

"You don't want to kidnap me, do you?" Charles turned back around and asked suspiciously.

"What? No! You just don't look very well." He smiled. "I'm Logan. I'm living on the fifth floor."

Logan hold his hand for Charles to shake. Still looking suspiciously Charles took Logan's hand to shake.

"I'm Charles. I'm living on the third floor with my brother…"

"Your brother? Wait, did you just said you're living on the third floor? So you're the brother of this grumpy, noisy Lehnsherr? You look more like his son…"

"Ahm… yeah. Grumpy and noisy…?" Charles was confused by the man's words. Sure, Erik didn't always look like the nicest person in the world, but the last days he actually made fun of him and didn't seem to be all that grumpy. And noisy?

But, then again, Charles didn't know his brother that well. He didn't know him even when their father was still alive and they only saw each no more than two times in the year.

"Yes. He's really rude you know. Never says good morning, or thank you if you receive is packages when he isn't home. But you surely know it…" Logan burrowed his eyebrows, "And yeah, noisy. Oh god! You wouldn't think that this always calm man would be soo loud in bed. Especially when his 'not' girlfriend visits him. Sometimes they would..."

Suddenly Logan stopped and swallowed. He tried to look somewhere else just not to the boy in front of him

"Why would they be loud in the bed? Aren't they sleeping well? Maybe it's because they're sleeping in one bed?" Charles looked confused.

Sure, he was a smart boy and already attended high-school in his young age, but he still was twelve years old and didn't have much life experience.

In contrast to other children his age, he didn't watch much television, or spend his time in internet to look curiously through it, and wasn't precocious like them, who knew much more these days then they should know. Everything he did was read books and learn.

Of course, Charles knew what sex was. He was very good in biology! However he didn't suspect that sex was also for pleasure. This part the teachers tried to avoid around him. After all, when he learned about this subject he was still seven years old.

So it wouldn't surprise anyone that he didn't understand what Logan was talking about.

"Well… whatever. Just forget it, okay? It's not my business and especially not yours." Logan explained and whispered almost the last part.

"I just wanted to make sure that you're okay." He explained and stood up.

"Okay…"

"I'm sure we will soon see each other again." With a smile, and tousling through Charles's hair, he said goodbye and went to the other side of the street to his car.

Charles watched him. Before Logan got in his car Charles remembered his manners and waved to goodbye him. Logan just smiled and waved back before he drove away.

After this meeting Charles was very happy all of sudden. Now he knew one person more!

He was just to pessimistic. His classmates were right, he really should go out more into the world and stop just sitting around and learning. That wasn't good for his social skills.

Okay, maybe they said it in a more cruel way and with other words but still… their context was the same.

Enthusiastically, Charles got up and went along the street. He wanted to look around.

If he would just go straight then he wouldn't get lost. That's what he thought…

It was a bad idea! It was a really bad idea! Maybe one of the worse ideas he ever had! Charles betted that his classmates knew this would happen. Surely they had it planned all along!

He was sure of it.

Charles was sitting on a bench in a small park. The clock next to the bench showed that it was already 6 p.m.

He really should have listened to Erik and stayed near the house.

At the beginning he was really careful not get lost, but then he saw a sign which lead him to a park. On the way to the park he got lost. After that he tried find his way back home, which he obviously didn't. Also he couldn't ask anyone for directions because he didn't know his new address.

When he asked a person for the way he told his old address in Westchester. That was really embarrassing. The nice woman just looked like she didn't know what to do and thought probably that he just got lost in a big city.

When she wanted to call the police he quickly apologized and ran away. He didn't need the police to get involved in this. Additionally, it would have just made trouble for Erik. No, that wasn't necessary!

And with this incident surely Erik wouldn't let him do anything by himself. He just would treat him even more like a baby. That was not what he wanted.

At the end Charles arrived at this park. Worse of all was that he didn't even know if this was that park he searched in the first place.

So he sat there frustrated and looked at the children with their parents. Some of them were playing ball and the other children played with each other or by themselves.

There were also older people sitting on other benches. Some people were there with their dogs.

Charles wished Erik would have come with him.

Maybe next time. If there was be a next time…

But something told him that Erik wouldn't go with him to the park. After all Charles was his little brother. Back in his old school the older siblings didn't want anything to do with their younger siblings.

He sighed.

Why did he have to think about something like this now? He should be thinking how he could get home.

Suddenly, at the end of the park someone catched his eye.

Logan. He was buying something at a little Chinese supermarket.

Should he…? Charles wasn't sure, but Logan was his only chance getting home.

As Logan went towards his car Charles stood up and ran towards him.

Now or never.

Meanwhile back at the apartment had Erik other worries. He should have his project for a company ready in a week. But he had a problem with the calculations. Actually he would have already finished this whole thing but when he checked to see if everything was okay he discovered 'the mistake'. And what a mistake it was! It was terrible! He would be lucky if he was ready before the deadline.

This whole situation was really, really, really… idiotical!

How could he make a such mistake?! Out of anger he threw his calculator against the door.

He wasn't surprised that it broke.

For a moment he sat quietly by his desk with his hands in his hair. When he looked at his watch, he sighed, frustrated.

It was already evening. To be correct, 7 o'clock!

Maybe a coffee break wouldn't be a bad idea…

Erik stood up and went into the kitchen. While he made himself a coffee, he decided to make some spaghetti (maybe it was more than a coffee break), he felt that something was not right. Something was missing. He just didn't know what exactly…

As he sat the water to boil he looked around the room. He furrowed his eyebrows. What was wrong?

He shook his head and went to the toilet. This project just made him crazy. That was all…

After he washed his hand he returned the kitchen and put the spaghetti in the pot. As he started to make the sauce he saw Charles cuddled up in the armchair. His eyes were closed.

Was he there before?

No. Erik was sure of it. He shook his head.

The squirt must have been come down when he was in the toilet. His brother looked really tired. What did he do there upstairs that he was that exhausted?

Well… whatever, he had bigger problems.

After Erik finished cooking dinner he waked the boy up.

They sat down and ate dinner. Well, Erik ate. Charles just poked in his noodles.

"What? Don't you like spaghetti?" Erik asked and raised an eyebrow, while he took one more bite.

Charles sipped his tea.

"No, I mean, yes, I like spaghetti." Came the quiet answer.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Nothing." Charles still didn't eat.

"Yeah?" Erik didn't believe him. He sighed. Not now. First he had to finish this project.

When he finished his plate he stood up and took his and Charles's plate to the dishwasher.

"If you're not hungry then I am going to put it in the fridge. You can eat it tomorrow."

Charles just nodded, said thank you and hurried up into his room.

Well… that was strange, Erik thought.

He decided to look after him and went after him. When he entered the boy's room he saw him already tucked up in his bed. The curtains were closed. Erik wrinkled his forehead. It was still 8 o'clock and it wasn't even dark outside.

Was it already bedtime for twelve years old? Erik didn't know much about kids but he knew that they went by 9 or even by midnight into bed…

"You okay Charles?" Erik stood awkwardly by the doorframe.

"Yeah. I just want to sleep…"

"Oh…"

"…"

"… what did you do the whole day? I mean, if you're already that tired…"

"Nothing. I'm just tired." Charles still didn't looked up.

"Nothing?" Erik knew there must be more but if the kid didn't want to talk about it… "Okay then, goodnight."

"…night"

Erik closed the door and returned back to his his study. Something told him that he missed something but he just couldn't figure out what…

Back in Charles's room Charles pressed his head and his fists to his chest. He cried.

Erik didn't notice. He didn't notice…

His older brother was like his mother, or maybe not… Maybe it was Charles's fault that no one wanted to do anything with him.

He thought it was his mother. That she didn't care. But now he was sure that it was because of him why no one in school or home ever wanted to do anything with him.

_I tried to make Charles a sensitive child. After all he spend his childhood all by himself and was very lonely. He also didn't have any friends. At this stage many children would ask themselves what is wrong…_

_So I hope you liked the chapter and if you have any ideas or situations you want to read about then tell me!_

_The next chapter will be starting with Charles's first school day ._

_Bb Charlie _


	4. First School Day

_Hey!_

_First a big thanks for all reviews, and for all who favorited and followed the story! I'm glad you like the story and a big thank you to __elianatcb1__ for correcting the story!_

_Sorry it took so long but I had problem with the end and how to connect it to the next chapter. This chapter is longer than the others. I didn't except to write so much. So please don't expect that the next chapters will be also that long. This long chapter… just happened! What can I say…_

_But I hope you like it _

_I started a new fanfiction. It's also about Erik and Charles. But Charles is in there the estranged son of Erik. If you are interested then here is the link (shameless advertisement) :_

_ s/10554779/1/Being-A-Father-and-A-Son_

_( I know that in America you learn Spanish in school, but in first class Charles could speak Russian and Charles isn't an ordinary child so he's going to learn Russian and because my Spanish is miserable. Just to say: it's my teacher's fault not mine that I'm not that good in Spanish.I just now realized that Charles didn't have a class in Russian but he will have in the next ones so…)_

_(PS: I decided to make this fanfiction a non-mutant story.)(Because some of you asked. :) I hope I answered all quiesions.)_

_So, and now have fun!_

**CHAPTER 4: FIRST SCHOOL DAY**

It was his first day at the high-school and he already wished it was his last.

Charles couldn't understand how high-school was supposed to be the best time of your life! That was what Erik told him when he asked him about his high-school years.

But, Erik went to school in Germany . There weren't any high or middle-schools. These two schools were pushed together in one school.

So Erik couldn't actually have any idea how high-school supposed to be in America.

Why did Charles even ask him?

Erik was probably popular in school and had many friends.

Maybe the high-school years really were the best time of your life, but only if there were people in your age. But there weren't any people his age! Charles didn't see one person who was twelve or thirteen or fourteen. They were all about fifteen through nineteen!

It didn't help that he was too small for his age.

The other pupils were all larger than him! And they all looked much older than him. Nobody seemed to take him seriously…

Charles wished he could go to middle-school. That would make everything so much easier! Or maybe he could take private lessons.

However, Charles knew this was also a wishful thinking. Erik would never agree. He would even laugh.

Charles could never make friends. Not even in the kindergarten. He has always been a strange child. That was what his mother kept saying all the time. He always read, didn't talk much, kept quiet and asked question which shouldn't be asked.

These questions made everything worse or put people in uncomfortable situations.

His mother claimed that was the reason he didn't have any friends…

As if this was the only reason…

Well… there was a friend once . But it didn't last long. His friend, Hank McCoy, was also like him, an unusually smart child, smarter. And he was shyer then Charles.

They went together in kindergarten for only one year, then Hank was placed in a special class.

Charles never saw him again.

They were the best friends and have always played together. Charles was always the strong one. If someone made fun of Hank and his big feet, then it was always Charles who helped his friend and told him that he was great like he was. Charles was sure that his big feet were the reason why Hank could ran that fast.

Charles was always small for his age, it didn't matter what people said, he knew it wasn't true that small people could ran faster than the ones who are bigger.

He wished he could run as fast as Hank could. That was why Charles always had that excited expression when he spoke about Hank's feet.

Actually, Charles always had this expression on his face when he was excited about something, but it didn't matter to Hank. There weren't many kids who complimented him and Charles was always honest. He was grateful for Charles's friendship. He always felt isolated by the other kids but with Charles it was different.

So when Hank had to leave kindergarten for his special classes, Charles lost his only friend.

At the beginning Charles was sad, but then his father began teaching him to read. It didn't last long until Charles learned to read by himself. The books he read were easy. Too easy for him.

So Charles started to read more advanced books.

He was always bored in pre-school and at the end he didn't do what he was supposed to. He started to show conspicuous behavior, which was the moment his teachers started to get worried and called his parents.

That was the moment his parents discovered that their child was smarter than other children.

After a consultation with a doctor, they found that his IQ was higher than kids in his age group.

He wasn't a genius, but it was enough to skip three school grades.

Not as smart as Hank but still smart.

So here he was. In a high-school. All alone. The last part wasn't new to him. He was always alone in school. After it was discovered that he was too smart for pre-school, his parents decided to put him in elementary school. That was the moment he started to always be the younger one.

Okay maybe back then he was just one year younger than his class-mates, but he was always smarter than them. Kids usually don't know what to do with kids in their age that keep talking about stuff they don't understand.

So it wasn't easy for Charles to make friends. It didn't help that he had other interests than his class mates.

He grew up in an isolated environment, so he didn't have many social skills.

Now he sat in his chair in second period. They would have history now. Charles had missed first period class.

He was late because he got lost in the large school building. Like Erik predicted. His brother wasn't very supportive. When Charles asked him for advise, all he got were stupid jokes. Maybe Erik was the one with social skill problems.

Erik brought him to school and made some sarcastic and annoying comments about him being small. Charles didn't even listened to him anymore. (He figured out that he was something like a puppy to Erik. A puppy, who couldn't talk back, and even when he did, it didn't help, it just made everything worse. Maybe he should've been happy that he only got to see Erik two times a year.)

Charles jumped out of the car and walked towards the school entrance. The school looked like someone took good care of it. But all schools that Charles went to looked like that.

It was a surprise for Charles because he heard that schools in New York weren't clean and were full of criminals. Of course Charles knew better, but he often believed others, even when he knew that they were wrong. That was what teachers were talking about when they told him he was too naive.

He could hear Erik saying goodbye behind him . He ignored him. His third day living with Erik and he already had enough of him.

In the past Charles would have always miss his brother and wished to spend more time with him, but after the last few days, Charles wouldn't mind to taking a break from him.

But then he turned around and shyly waved back. Erik smiled and shook his head (Charles betted Erik was making fun of him in his head again). Charles didn't want to be rude. After all Erik was the one who brought him to school and took care of him.

He was the one who made the food and tried to feed Charles. Charles should be grateful at least. Even if Erik didn't notice he was gone the whole day yesterday.

Then Erik drove away with a last mocking face to Charles. Why was he in such good mood? Yesterday morning it seemed like he wanted to kill everyone who would cross his way…

The first thing that happened to him when he walked into clean school building was to be pushed to the ground. On his face. His hand went automatically to his forehead. It hurt. He slammed directly with his head. He wanted to cry, but didn't. Things like that happened all the time. No need to be a baby. It wasn't really the best time or the place for things like this.

So he carefully stood up and pulled himself together. First period would begin soon. He should hurry.

Great, what a good way to start your first day of school.

It was difficult to find the secretary, especially when you were a little kid between teenagers who didn't even notice that he was there until they bumped into him.

At first they were surprised and then they ignored him, or told him how cute he was, tell him to piss off, or to go back to kindergarten.

Charles didn't mind. They had all the right to think this way and he really looked like he didn't belong there. No need to be offended.

But the fact that he was a small person among big people didn't help. Every time he would look up he couldn't see any signs or doors. Okay, maybe he saw some doors but he still couldn't tell where they led to. He tried to look for the secretary, he even tried to ask the other pupils, but every time he started to ask someone, the person just disappeared.

Unfortunately there weren't any teachers in sight. Wasn't this supposed to be a school?

At the end he was dragged with the crowd to some part of the school. Now he really didn't know where he was. And all pupils were already in their classes.

Great. His first day and he was late. And being late meant he would stand out when he would arrive to class. _If_ he could arrive to class…

He still didn't know where he was.

He had to swallow.

So he just stood there in the middle of the school floor, didn't know where he was _and_ was late. Now, he decided, was the right time to cry…

Charles tightened his fingers around his school bag and tried to swallow down his tears. He shook.

Why did he always have to be so sensible? Erik wasn't sensible (as far as Charles knew, he didn't really know him).

After he calmed down, he decided to look around and maybe he would find a way in the right direction. Even if yesterday didn't work out the way he wanted, he found a way back home.

Okay, it was by chance that Logan was there next to the park _BUT_ he got home, right?

As he glanced around he found a hallway, which he thought he wasn't before. He ran in that direction and looked around again. Somehow it looked serious and there weren't any lockers. The teachers' lounge, and maybe also the secretary weren't so far.

After a while Charles was sure that he was cursed. Why was it so difficult to find the right way? Back in the mansion, or castle, like Erik loved to call it, he always knew where he was going. And it was bigger than this school seemed to be. Every once in a while he would find a room he wasn't in before.

So why was it so difficult here?!

He tried more hallways but there weren't any signs of the secretary. Twenty minutes later he gave up. If the school didn't want him, then he didn't want it either.

Out of frustration he leaned on the wall with his backpack and slid down the wall. He really hated high-school…

Maybe it was a sign that he didn't belong here? That must be it. What else could it be? Of course, it could be a sign for him being an idiot, but it didn't fit into the situation. So it must be a sign that he should go back to middle-school or get a private teacher.

Yes, that was it.

When Erik picks him up from school he will tell him that and then everything would be alright. Erik will understand it. Surely…

Charles looked at his watch and groaned. It was several hours until Erik had to pick him up. This was not the way he wanted to spend his day…

For several minutes he just sat there on floor and counted numbers in his head with closed eyes..

When he was by 11734 he heard footsteps. He stopped counting.

When the footsteps stopped in front of him, he opened his eyes and stared up at a guy, who looked like a teacher. He looked around Erik's age.

The 'teacher' burrowed his forehead in concern as he looked down at little boy who obviously didn't seem like he belonged in a high-school.

With a gentle smile he asked, "Hello there, what're you doing here?"

Now, Charles had every right to cry. The teacher would find out that he skipped a period, and then he would drag him to the principal. They would call Erik. He would be thrown out of school on his first day. Erik would decide he didn't want him anymore, and then he wouldn't have anyone except Albert, his teddy bear.

NO! Stop, Charles… you're overreacting. None of that will happen. No one is going to be thrown out of school just because he skipped first period on his first school day…

So don't panic!

"Are you okay, kid?" The teacher is now kneeling in front of him.

"Y-Yes… I just, I ca-can't find… the secre-cretary." Charles whispered almost the last part.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't understand the last part. Could you repeat it please?"

"I ca-can't find the secretary…"

"The secretary? Why are you looking for the secretary? Are you looking for your brother or your sister?" The teacher looked confused.

"No, m-my brother doesn't go to school anymore. It's my first day here and I-I don't know where the secretary is. I-I'm sorry! I just didn't know where to go and then I got lost! I'm really sorry! Please don't expel me! It was an accident!" At the end he panicked though.

The teacher looked more confused than before but then his face shined up. "Oh…, oh! You are the new student, right? You're the new young student. Don't worry. You won't get expelled. That's okay, come on. Calm down, everything is alright. Come, I am Mr. Scott Summers. I teach physics and sports." The teacher smiled encouraging and held his hand for Charles to shake.

Charles looked at the hand for a while, unsure of what to do. Lastly he shook Mr. Summer's hand and smiled a little at the nice teacher.

"Charles Xavier."

Mr. Summers smiled back, stood up and pulled Charles to his feet.

"Come on." He said gently, "I'm going to show you where the secretary is. It isn't far from here."

Then he went towards the said room. Charles followed him.

On their way, Mr. Summers explained to him what the rooms, which they went by, were for and tried to explain him the way to the school entrance. He also asked how Charles was and seemed to be very enthusiastic in his own calm way.

Then they finally arrived with the secretary and Charles was given a timetable and an excuse for the missed period. Additionally, Mr. Summers offered to bring Charles to his next class.

First period was already over and some students were storming out of their classes to their next lessons.

When they arrived to his next class, Mr. Summers wished him good luck and told him that everything was going to be alright. After this he went to his next class.

Now there he was in his history class and waited patiently for the teacher's arrival while his new classmates sat on their places. They took the opportunity to look more at Charles.

He tried not to look up and stared at his hands which lay on the desk in front of him. He could hear murmurs and the comments his classmates made. Some of them even laughed.

"Hey, isn't kindergarten three blocks away?"

"Oh, look how cute he..."

"Poor boy. Did his older brother prank him? That's really not funny."

"Haha… look at him? Do you think he knows where he is right now?"

Charles tried not to listen to their comments. He was already used to ignoring classmates. Since he skipped the second time he got to learn to ignore such comments. Actually he had to ignore the comments since elementary school but still…

"Hey you!" Charles looked up. There, in front of him, stood a guy who stared down on him. And he didn't stare, like _stare_; he really stared _down _on him. It was kind of scary. He didn't look happy. Charles swallowed and asked himself what he did wrong…

"You're in the wrong place, you know." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. Some girls around him rolled their eyes but didn't give him more attention than necessary and looked then down on their mobile phones. Some of them just turned around. The boys on the contrary grinned or didn't even look his way.

Charles didn't know where to put this all.

"Ahh… ac-actually I am in right place." Charles had to bite on his tongue to not add 'sir'. The guy just looked really authoritative. Even with his snake tattoo on his neck. This glance…

Charles quickly turned his head back down.

"Are you..? No, I don't think so."

"But-" Suddenly the guy slammed his hands on Charles's desk. Charles jumped.

"No buts! I-"

Suddenly, his new, big and scary classmate was interrupted by a door-slam.

"So children, sit down! We're beginning with your favorite class, want it or not. That's not my problem!" The voice boomed through the classroom and everyone went to their desks. The whole class quieted.

The big guy was still standing in front of Charles and you could see on his face that he tried to decide what he should do.

"Tyler, I'm not gonna say it again, sit down!" The voice of the teacher (obviously) boomed again. Something about this voice was familiar to Charles. He just didn't know what.

"Professor, I think _someone_ doesn't belong here." Tyler said and removed, to Charles's relief, his arms from his desk, but continued to stare down at him.

Charles still felt like crying. Again.

What was wrong with him?

"Whoever it is, I bet it is our new young student. So stop terrorizing him. And sit down." The teacher didn't sound like he was even looking in their direction. How did he even know that Tyler was still standing there?!

Suddenly, at the response of their teacher, everyone was looking at him, and Tyler finally went to his own desk. Unfortunately, his desk was next to Charles. The guy could't stop looking at Charles. Well… he could, but it didn't look like he wanted.

"Soo…, let's see who we got here." The teacher stood in front of the class and looked up from his papers to look on the new student.

Charles tried to make himself small.

"Oh… " Charles turned his eyes up to the teacher. Well, that was a surprise. The teacher turned out to be his neighbor. He also looked surprised, but then he smiled.

"So, people, this is your new classmate, Charles Xavier. Be nice to him." His glance went around the students and then he walked toward his desk.

But before he began with the lesson, he turned around once more, "Oh… and I am Professor James Howlett. But everybody calls me Professor Logan." It was clear that he spoke to Charles.

The guy was a Professor? What was a Professor doing in a high-school? Charles wondered.

Was this a private school? It was a shame that Charles didn't even know what kind of school he went. Probably a private school where the teachers were Professors.

"So, let's beginning. Please take your out books. We're continuing where we stopped last week. Does anyone still know what the topic was?" Professor 'Logan' asked the class and sat himself down on his desk while he opened up a history book.

The class started to take their books out. The big guy Tyler turned finally looked away from Charles to take out his book. Charles realized that he didn't have a history book. Actually he didn't even have any books for any of his classes. Mr. Summers said the teacher would give him the books, he only had to ask.

But Professor Logan didn't look like he was going to give him a history book.

Nervously Charles raised his hand. Charles was a small child among teenagers who looked already like grown-ups (in Charles eyes).

Logan looked questionly at him and gave him a sign to speak up.

"I-I need a book, s-sir." Charles was just too nervous on his first day. Some girls giggled.

Logan looked a little bit confused by his stuttering young student but then he realized. "Of course."

He took a book out of his bag and gave it to Charles, he returned to his desk and asked the students again if they knew what the topic was. Some of the hands went up while the other students looked bored and turned the pages aimless.

Charles looked to his left (Tyler on his right side was too scary) and tried to figure out the book page. However the blonde girl flipped the pages in her book like the others and didn't look like she was paying attention to the teacher.

Charles looked behind him but the red hair boy was asleep and he also obviously didn't pay any attention to the teacher.

Next to the boy sat another with blonde hair who was busy throwing little paper balls at the red hair boy.

Charles turned back around. Professor Logan was already discussing the topic with the partof the class which was more willing to learn something than the other obviously bored part of the class. Some of the students were even typing on their mobile phones under the desks.

Charles sighed. This is going to be a really _long _day. He really wished he could be somewhere else, just not here.

After several minutes of discussing the beginning of the First World War (a lead to Charles what the half of the class was actual talking about), Charles finally figured out the right book page.

Suddenly Charles noticed that someone was staring at him. He looked to his right, but it wasn't Tyler, thank God! As Charles looked around he noticed that it was the blonde girl on his left side who stared at him. She chewed gum and still wasn't paying attention to their teacher.

Her blues eyes stared down on him. She actually looked like she wanted to seduce him. Her posture didn't tell Charles otherwise. He turned red and turned quickly towards his history book.

"Are you shy?" Charles turned redder than he already was and shook his head. Unfortunately the girl was now paying her full attention to him.

"Oh, yes you are shy…" She leaned nearer to him.

"So, how old are you? You look very young. I bet you are a genius." He could hear her smile in her speech.

"Ahm.. I-I am tw-twelve…" Charles wanted her to stop and tried to read in his book but it didn't work.

"Hey Raven, what're you doing? Are you into kids now ?" The blonde guy from behind called but looked quickly at his desk when Logan raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Maybe… who knows?" Raven hummed.

"Why? Are you jealous Alexander?" She grinned at him seductively.

The girl seemed like she liked to flirt. Charles was just glad that she didn't pay any more attention to him…

"So little man. How do you like our school?"

… or maybe she still did.

Charles observed that he didn't know how to act around teenage girls. They were a lot more complicated than the girls his age.

Girls his age mostly ignored him but this girl just irritated him.

"Miss Darkholme, do you have anything to add to our topic?" Now everyone's attention was drawn to Raven. Logan was sitting now on his desk with his hands in his pockets.

The red-head boy looked up perplexed like he didn't know where he was.

"No, actually not, Professor." She answered him charmingly and winked with her eyelashes. The blonde boy laughed quietly and the red head boy looked confused to his classmate.

"Then you have the right to be quiet." He added sternly and turned then back to the class to discuss how the First World War started.

When Raven was certain that the Professor was focused on other things and not her, she turned back to Charles.

"So little man, back to you-"

"Who's that?" Asked the red hair boy and bored a hole in Charles head. Charles wished he was invisible.

Raven looked angry at the boy. "Don't interrupt me, Sean!" She hissed.

"Why? What's wrong? And who's that?" He really looked confused.

Now Charles really wished that the nice teacher hadn't found him on the floor and regretted not asking Erik if he could go to middle school. Not that that place was in any way better…

"That's her new lover…" Alex laughed with his glance on his book.

Charles started to read in his book in the hope to fade out the strange teenagers around him. Especially the blonde girl, Raven.

_The First World War started as a_-

"Yes, you are jealou-"

"Okay, what's wrong with you guys?!" The Professor interrupted Raven. Now she looked annoyed because everyone interrupted her.

"Nothing, Professor." She tried her best smile but it didn't work.

"Oh, really? Nothing? You're sure that you're not lying?" He raised his right eyebrow. "Because Mr. Summers and Mr. Cassidy are looking like there is more than nothing going on."

Alex looked in every direction, just not to his teacher and Sean looked still confused.

"I don't have anything to do with Raven's love interests!" Sean shouted and raised quickly defendently his hands in front of his chest. Alex burst out in laughing, like many of his classmates.

Raven looked like she was ready to kill him. Sean tried to disappear under his desk and Charles acted like he didn't hear anything of this.

Logan sighed and asked himself not the first time why he was teaching teenagers. They were so annoying and obviously didn't want to learn anything. He should have studied something useful that didn't involve hormone-controlled teens. Why didn't he stay at the university and teached young adults instead of high-school students?

Until today it was a mistery to Logan why he made a such idiotical decision…

"I don't have any love interest in this kid. I am just trying to be nice. Look at the poor kid. He's so lonely!" Raven announced.

Logan rubbed frustrated his forehead.

"Lonely? He's been here a day!" Alex countered.

"That doesn't mean he's not lonely! And how do you even know that it's his first day? He's so small. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been here last year and we didn't notice!"

"This is his first high school year. We are all new here! You can't know him!"

"Isn't he too young to go in high-school?" Sean asked confused out of nowhere.

Raven twisted her eyes. "He's obviously a genius! Not like you…"

"Oh…, that makes sense." After a moment, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean, not like me?" Sean was now glaring at Raven.

Alex just laughed. Raven just sat there and looked like an angel.

Seriously, what was wrong with these kids? Logan couldn't take it anymore. He looked in Charles's direction and wasn't surprised that the poor kid was trying to ignore the crazy ones around him. It looked like he wanted to disappear into his book… What a shock it must be for him to come in a school which was full of hormones.

"That's enough!" Logan shouted sternly and suddenly everyone was quiet.

Always a surprise how quickly they could become quiet. Why couldn't they always be that quiet? Another mistery to Logan…

"You three! Out of here!" He demanded.

"What?" The three asked at the same time.

"You heard me! Out of the classroom. You should be thankful that I don't send you to the principal…"

Charles was sure it was his fault.

"But I didn't do anything! They started!" Sean complained and pointed at Raven and Alex. Raven twisted her eyes and Alex was already packing his bag.

Did he plan it all along? Logan wondered.

"Come on dude! It' free class! Be happy! Now we don't have to listen about some stupid guys who started a war…" Alex was obviously not interested in history.

"Not so quickly Mr. Summers. Don't you dare to think that you are getting out of here so easily. All three of you are going to write an essay about how the First World War started and who all was involved during this process. And I am going to rate it! Have I made myself clear?"

The three students didn't look very happy but packed their things and went out of the classroom. Especially Sean, he looked like he bit into a lemon. And this made Logan smile somehow. At least he wasn't the only one who had to suffer.

Meanwhile, Charles wasn't happy with the situation. Now it was his fault that his classmates were send out of the classroom. Okay, he didn't do anything, but still… somehow he had the feeling that it was his fault.

He just wanted to go home.

For the rest of the lesson Charles stared down at his book. First, he missed first period and then his second lesson turned in a disaster… Life wasn't fair to Charles.

After the history lesson ended, Charles packed quickly his things and was the first out of the classroom. He didn't even mind that Professor Logan and his new classmates stared perplexed after him.

When Charles was sure that he wasn't in the vicinity of the classroom he left behind, he relaxed and was focused now on where he was going. He took out the timetable Mr. Summers gave him and looked how long he would have school today. To his luck, Monday was a short school-day. Now he would have a break and then two hours math. After that he could go home.

Did Erik actually know when school was finished for Charles? Erik just said that he would pick him up but he didn't mention when.

Now Charles had every right to panic. He didn't want to stay any longer than necessary in this school. It was already bad enough that he would go three long years to this school…

He didn't want to spend his free time in school, too.

His hands tightened on his school bag.

"Hey, little man. What are you looking for?" Charles heard the seductive voice next to his ear.

He nearly jumped.

When he turned around he found the blonde girl Raven standing next to him.

The hall began fill slowly with students who went out of their classrooms and to the school-break.

Charles swallowed something down. She was the last person he wanted to see right now. After all she was one of the reasons why he wanted to storm out of the school. She irritated him too much. But he didn't want to be rude. After all she was just trying to be nice.

"Hello…" He answered quietly and looked at his shoes. Her smile was one of the things of her behavior which irritated him.

"Well… aren't you cute."

That was awkward.

"Hey Raven!" Charles looked up. They were interrupted by some dark haired girl. Charles was never so thankful in his life. As Raven turned around he tried to walk away but she reached out her arm and stopped him.

Now there was no escape for little Charlie…

"Hey, Angel! Look, we have a new student! Isn't he just adorable?" Raven looked down on the small boy next to her like she never seen a better human-being than Charles.

_Please_, he prayed to someone he didn't even know of he existed, _let the school-break be over._

The girl with the dark hair, Angel, looked skeptically down on Charles. She burrowed her forehead.

"You didn't kidnap him from some school, did you?" She asked concerned, still looking down on Charles.

'_What was wrong with the students here?'_ Charles wondered again.

"Angel! Didn't you listen? I said he is the new student!"

"I heard you well enough, but you have often crazy ideas, so I was not sure…"

"The strip club was your idea, not mine."

'_Strip club?!'_

"It was a joke!" Angel didn't look comfortable.

"Whatever…" Raven waved with her hand and with her other arm she pushed poor Charles to her chest, "What do you think of our new little genius friend?"

'_Since when were they friends?'_

"He's okay." Angel was obviously not impressed, "So, can we go to the cafeteria? You know how quickly the Choco-Puddings are sold away."

Some students were now pushing them. A sign that that all classrooms were empty now. Maybe Charles could hide there…?

Raven rolled her eyes but agreed. But before Charles could go his own way, Raven dragged him with her. Her grip was so strong that he couldn't free himself.

He didn't have a choice but to go with them.

While Angel bought her Choco-Pudding, Raven dragged Charles to a table which was already full with other girls. Immediately Raven began to announce to everyone how cute he was and so on.

The girls drew their attention to him but with time they started talking about other things. Charles would have stood up and walked away but Angel sat on the free spot next to him, so he couldn't stand up anymore because he was surrounded by the girls.

Charles really didn't know what to think of this situation and especially Raven. Why was she so obsessed with him? Just because he was small? It didn't make sense to him.

But he was never good at reading people. He spent his whole life in a library by himself. Maybe she really tried to be nice after all. Why was it so hard for Charles to believe it?

When the school bell rang, Charles was glad that he would have a lesson now. But this happiness was over as he found out that Raven and Alex were also in his math class. It was advanced math.

Well… actually Raven didn't belong in this class, she just sneaked in as she offered Charles to bring him to his next lesson. Charles found out after Alex asked her what the hell she was doing there…

She said she didn't want to leave her _new little _friend alone. Alex started talking about her love interests and asked her if she realized that Charles was still a kid.

By now Charles was sure that she was obsessed with him.

Charles was glad that Raven had to hide from the teacher in this class, so he could concentrate on his school work and wasn't so distracted by her.

Unfortunately Alex was the one who got distracted by her. She sat directly behind him and because she was bored with hiding from the teacher and couldn't reach Charles, she flirted with him.

The flirting contained her poking his neck and breathing in his ear. Raven was one of his friends but he was just a teenage boy, so he had to be use all his strength to resist her. He almost sold her out to the teacher.

But Raven didn't care. It was fun distracting him.

Charles he wasn't the only one who wished for school being over. It wasn't a surprise that when the school bell rang, he ran just like Charles, out of the classroom. Unfortunately for both boys, Raven quickly grabbed Charles by the shoulder and ran with him after Alex.

After all she couldn't leave her two best friends alone.

Yes, she claimed Charles as her best friend already. She loved the adorable little boy even though she just met him.

Charles wiped his face. Why him?

Alex went out of the school building and sighed. Thank god, he didn't have to deal with Raven anymore. At least for the rest of the day.

"Hey, Alex! Wait, little Charlie here isn't so quick on his legs!" Alex jumped.

Spoke too soon.

He turned around and saw Raven as she ran out of the building with the new student behind her. The kid didn't look happy. Alex understood him. Raven could be… no, she was always, that difficult. Going with her to middle school taught him that lesson.

If she found someone interesting or who something, then she wouldn't let the person go. That was how he, Raven and poor Sean ended up together in high-school.

Alex's older brother Scott already decided that he would go in the school in which he teached. Alex wasn't thrilled but what could he do? After their parents' death, Scott was the one in charge of him and Scott wasn't as fun as everyone thought. But what could you expect when your older brother is a teacher...?

So Raven dragged Sean with her after him to the new high-school…

Not that Alex wasn't glad to go to high-school with his friends, but Raven was just… well, she was _Raven_! And Raven had always crazy ideas. He just had to think about the strip club… Okay maybe it was Angel's idea but she wasn't serious. But at the end it was Raven who dragged them all into the strip club. She laughed so much when she saw Alex's and Sean's faces. Alex's was stone serious and Sean couldn't shut his mouth.

Not even Angel, who was always for illegal actions (Alex found out just yesterday as they broke into the school the swimming pool. That was Angel's idea. She wanted to do more, but at the end Sean drank to much) was thrilled.

Alex was glad today that his brother still thought that they were in the cinema (if Alex told him they were going to the library, Scott would found out immediately what happened.)

Okay, their visit to the strip club was four days ago (Raven wanted to introduce Angel to her old friends. Why it couldn't be really in a cinema or at least on the school-floor, was something Alex would wonder his whole life. But, like he said, Raven was crazy).

"Alex, really. You should have waited. I was starting to think that you wanted to get rid of me and the little man here." Raven complained as she arrived with Charles.

Some of the students were also out of the school building. Monday was a short school-day for the most of them. Not for all, but for the most.

"No, only of you." Alex replied shortly.

Raven ignored him and held Charles tighter as he tried to escape.

'_Poor kid.' _Alex thought.

"Well, whatever. Sean must be here any minute. What are we gonna do?" She asked in excitement.

"What do you mean?"

"I am talking about little Charlie! We have to celebrate our new friend here!"

Charles looked shocked. Alex knew there must be several reasons. He probably thought that they were going to kidnap him…

"You sure he wants to?" Alex looked down to Charles.

"Of course he wants to! Why shouldn't he?" Raven protested.

"Actually I…" Charles piped out but stopped as their full attention were drawn to him. He looked down on his feet.

He wouldn't cry, he wouldn't cry. It was not the right time for that and not the right place. He should wait until he was home in his bed…

Why did the girl called him her friend? She was surely making fun of him. Well, it wasn't funny. Not at all. Not for him. It hurt him, because he knew she didn't really mean it. Nobody really ever meant it. They were only playing with him… like the kids back in his old school.

"I think you made him cry, Raven." Alex knew this would happen. The kid is really too young for Raven's enthusiasms.

"What?!" Raven bursts out. "He's not crying! What are you talking about?!"

"But he's at the edge of crying…"

"Not true."

"Come on, look closer at him."

Raven wasn't pleased with Alex, but looked better at the boy next to her. And really, the new kid looked really like he was ready to cry.

"Oh…" Raven didn't know what to say. "Oh, I am so sorry!" She crushed down in front of him and tried to say more but she didn't know what. She didn't even know what she did wrong. Most of the time she knew what she did wrong but this was not the time.

Charles was shocked that they noticed that he was close to crying and felt ashamed. That was not what he wanted. Now they surely thought that he was a baby. Just like Erik.

"I-I am not crying…" He whispered, but Alex and Raven weren't convinced.

"Really not! Do you see any tears?"

"Well… actually not, but still…" Alex said.

"I am okay!" Charles pulled himself together and smiled brightly up to him. Raven looked now more convinced than Alex, but the blond teenager decided to leave it alone. No need to upset the boy more than necessary. At the end the kid would really burst out in tears and Alex didn't know how to deal with crying children. He bet that Raven didn't know either.

"Well, now that we know that none of us is going to cry, what about pizza?" Raven jumped up in excitement and looked expectantly at the two boys. Alex shrugged and Charles was playing now with his shirt. Maybe he should go with them. Maybe they really wanted to hang out with him…

"Oh, look there's Sean! Sean, we're here!" Raven shouted as she spotted Sean.

"What do you think about pizza?" She asked him as he arrived at their little group.

"Pizza? Are we celebrating something?" Sean looked really excited. He loved pizza.

"Yes. We now have a new friend!"

"New friend?" He looked confused at Alex who pointed with his head towards Charles.

"Oh! The genius!" Sean nodded understandable and smiled.

Charles blushed. School was over and his was still there. Where was Erik? His eyes were settled on the street in the hope Erik's silver jeep would appear soon. The people here seemed nice but Charles was overwhelmed.

As if on cue, Charles heard Erik's voice calling his name. He turned his head to the left and, indeed, it was Erik with sunglasses sitting in his car.

The others also turned around.

"Raven…?" Alex asked her carefully. Charles looked at her and discovered something unusual on her face. Now he was confused.

"Who's that hot guy?" She asked with something in her voice, Charles didn't quite understand. Alex and Sean moaned.

"My brother…?" Came the quiet from Charles. Suddenly Charles had a strange feeling…

"Come on Charlie. We don't want to make him wait, do we?" She grabbed him by the arm as Erik called Charles again.

"Raven, don't do it!" Alex protested as he followed them. Sean sighed frustrated but went after them.

"What shouldn't I do?" She asked innocently.

"Don't flirt with him or anything what involves you wanting to sleep with him."

"Really Alex? What do you think I am? I just want to say hello to the big brother of our new little friend here."

"Who says he's the big brother?" Sean tried to joke but was ignored like always. He wasn't clever.

Meanwhile, Charles was confused.

'_Sleep with him? What did he mean?'_ He thought.

"Charles! What took you so long? Didn't you hear me?" Erik interrupted them still sitting in his car.

"'I'm sorry…" Charles answered shyly.

"Come on, hop in. I have still work to do."

Charles nodded entered the car. Meanwhile, Raven looked at Erik seductively, while Alex wanted to be somewhere else and Sean thought about which pizza he was going to eat today.

As Charles tried to put on his seatbelt, Erik catched their glances.

"Who are you?" He asked suspiciously.

'_God, please don't let them be some scouts…' _ He thought desperately.

"We're Charles classmates. I' Raven, the blonde one is Alex and the other funny one is Sean."

Raven didn't say anything that contained flirting but her seductively tone and her playing with her hair, told more than thousands words.

Alex rolled his eyes and Sean looked suddenly confused.

"Who's Charles?" He asked.

Now Alex really wished he had other friends who weren't that strange.

"This one." He pointed with his head to the car.

Sean looked at Erik. "Isn't he too old for school?" He asked stupidly.

"I mean the small one, you jerk."

"But isn't he too _young_?"

Erik put up his eyebrow. Charles ducked his head.

"Don't you remember the small boy from history class…?" Sometimes Alex wondered what was wrong with Sean. After all he wasn't stupid or anything. So why did he acted like that?

'_Maybe he's just slow…?'_

"Ahh…" Erik hated teenagers. Hopefully Charles isn't to going to turn out like them. If he's going to hang around them then he surely would. Charles was easy to manipulate. Erik had experience…

"Well… it was a pleasure to meet you guys but I'm in hurry so… bye!" Erik turned around and started the motor.

"Yeah… " Alex nodded politely.

And Raven still standing there, playing with her hair and looking seductively at Erik. Alex had the bad suspicion the she was undressing him in her head.

He better ignored that. That was just too disturbing…

Then Erik drove away. He didn't need to spend more time with them than necessary.

The teenagers looked after the car, except Alex. He wished he'd taken his brothers offer and drove with him to the library… Anything seemed better than Raven with her crazy mind.

"Hey guys! Didn't we want to eat pizza?" Sean asked suddenly out of nowhere.

"Hmm…" Raven answered, still looking after a car which was long go.

'_Yep, anything was better than this.'_ Alex thought and decided to find his brother in the hope he hadn't left.

Meanwhile, in the car, "So, how was school, squirt?" Erik asked and looked to Charles.

Charles didn't answer and just laid his head on the car door. He was really tired and it wasn't even evening.

_I know some of you maybe expected something from first day of the school, because I actually did. Tyler is just some guy who likes to make himself important. If some of you looked forward for a school-bully, don't worry, there will be one. Tyler just likes to scare others._

_If some of you wondered: Alex is Scott's younger brother. I know that Scott is actually the younger one but I saw a picture of the two actors together and it somehow fitted that Alex is the younger one._


End file.
